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Russia; Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod in June 2004
I really only have one problem with Russia and it goes along the lines of: "Bill, in Russia we have a saying - Bottoms Up!..." otherwise the people and the place are great.
Despite all the available 'culture' Moscow is unfortunately becoming indistinguishable from many a European city - except more expensive! I watched a Russion Opera in the Bolshoi - and that's quite inexpensive, the opera was Ivan Susanin: a soporific first act, the ballet dancers during the second act gripped everyones attention before the quite good third act. Despite the pouring rain I still have some nice photos of Basil's Cathedral with pretty, blue portable toilets outside (I spared you that one). I also managed a 2 hour tour around the Tretyakov Art Gallery, but not quite long enough in the amazing exhibition of icons.
Next stop was Nizhny Novgorod. On Russian 'motorways' the 300km is around a 6-8 hour car journey. Nizhny was apparently a closed city until the early 1990's - no foreigners allowed - except Clint Eastwood stealing the Firefox jet! When I visited, the Moscow rain was a distant memory (unlike the "Bill... bottoms-up") the sun shone and I really liked the feel of the place - I even (post Armenian Cognac) managed to beat my customer at Russian billiards!
My most memorable incident was when I was trying to gulp down the brandy (with chocolate of course!) and noticed that one of our group was drinking a bottle of Georgian red wine instead - when I queried this I was told that he was a special case - he was the driver...!
the moscow rain
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nizhny novgorod - and back
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